The Story of Alan Shuzbeke
by JoshMCo
Summary: Alan Shuzbeke has a dark past. Soon it will come back to haunt him. Then he and his friends are really in trouble. Please read and please review!
1. The Raid on Hogsmeade

_**Author's Note: I appreciate this is short but I intend for them to get longer!**_

* * *

Night fell. As the village of Hogsmeade slept, a secret mission was taking place. "Be quiet!" One of the black-robed men hissed, after another of them had almost tripped. "If we're heard, we're dead!" He hissed and continued. The men moved silently through the small village, the inhabitants none the wiser. The men entered a small home, the door opening silently. Two of the three men stayed outside, keeping guard. "I'll be back when the job is done." He hissed and went in to the house. The man, Peter Terrington, crept up the stairs, almost silent. The only thing that went wrong was the creak of a floorboard. Terrington cursed himself inwardly and leapt, landing almost silently, throwing himself against a wall, hiding from the person contained within the room, who was sure to now be alert. Terrington heard footsteps coming towards him. He tried to slow his breathing. He saw a shadow appear, crossing the door. Terrington moved further back into the shadows, almost completely invisible. George Shuzbeke stepped out, eyes full of sleep. "Hello?" He asked to the darkness. "Who's there?" Terrington approached from the shadows, George seeing him immediately.  
"Hello, Shuzbeke." He said coldy, with a slight hint of satisfaction.  
"Ah... Terrington." George replied, turning towards the man. "I thought you were dead."  
"So did everyone else... You left me for dead." Terrington hissed. Another voice came from the bedroom.  
"George? Everything alright?" The female voice asked warily.  
"Fine, Jane... Go back to sleep." George replied warmly. He then turned back to Terrington. "Yes, we did. How did you live?" He asked, coldly.  
"Adam Salantio saved me... Remember him?" Terrington hissed, smiling slyly.  
"Salantio... Of course I remember him." George said quietly. "You're here on his bidding?"  
"Of course..." Terrington replied. "Then I know why you're here." George sounded solemn, almost accepting. Terrington was almost tricked, until George's hand, in a blur of motion, took his wand from his robe, slashing with it. Terrington shot back, hitting off a wall. George turned from him and looked at his wife, who was now up and picking up their small child, Alan. "Jane, take him and run!" He shouted, now dodging various curses from the two guards outdoors. Jane nodded and, as George stunned the two guarding the door, ran outside. George sighed. Three down. He knew this gang, there was six. Always six. George turned, too late. Adam Salantio, accompanied by two others stepped in front of him. He had no time to say anything, as a green flash enveloped him and then nothing.

Jane Shuzbeke ran, holding her child to her chest. She looked behind her, seeing two figures behind her. She looked forwards again, seeing nothing but darkness. Suddenly, a figure came out of nowhere. "Jane! I know what's happened!" The figure whispered. Jane stopped immediately. "Terry! They killed George!" She whispered, tears streaming down her face.  
"I know, I know... Listen, let me take Alan... You have to run. Please, Jane. Give me Alan and run." He said urgently.  
"No!"  
"Jane... Trust me." Terry said quietly.  
"F-Fine... Take care of him." Jane said shakily and gave the infant Alan to Terry.  
"I will. I promise." He said and took the child and ran, Jane running another direction. "I'm sorry, Jane..." He whispered to himself, the green flash already visible. Terry looked down at the child. "I'm sorry, kid. Mummy and Daddy are... Away... I'm going too." He said, voice cracking. "I'm sorry, Al... Mummy loves you. Daddy loves you. Terry loves you." Terry said and looked at a door. Terry put Alan down very carefully on the doorstep and knocked on the door. He then ran away. If the old woman who answered the door had opened it a fraction of a second earlier, she would have seen the green flash.

"Jack, look at this..." The old woman said quietly, looking down at the infant on her doorstep. Jack came to the door. "Oh, God." He muttered.  
"A kid? We just got rid of our own."  
"Well, we can't just leave it out here." The old woman, Vera, whispered, picking Alan up. "Look at him... Who would leave such a beautiful boy out here?" She whispered, mainly to herself.  
"Vera... We can't take him in. There's no roo-"  
"No room? There's plenty of room. We have a spare room."  
"There's no cot." Jack replied bluntly. "Well, get Paul to drive one over." Vera replied. The people were muggles, though they were fairly near to Hogsmeade.  
"He'll be asleep." Jack sighed.  
"Then wake him up!" Vera said quietly, looking down at baby Alan. "What's he called?" Vera asked. Jack looked at his linen cover and smiled slightly.  
"It says his name is Alan." He said and smiled. "Alan Shuzbeke."


	2. Grief, Exile and Beginnings

For the next four years, Alan lived in comfort with the old couple. They never deluded him about his real name, always calling him Alan. They did, however, treat him like their own son. They were very good to him, always treating him with patience and love. However, a few days before he was set to go to school, something happened. Alan was out with Paul, one of Vera and Jack's sons, when it happened. When he heard about it. Paul was on the phone at his house. "O-Oh." He said. Alan could tell, even at his age, that he was upset. Paul nodded solemnly. "Alright then. What-What killed them?" He asked quietly. Alan couldn't hear the answer. Paul blinked "What do you mean you don't know?" He asked, slightly angry. A pause while the person on the other end of the phone answered. "Fine." He said and hung up. As soon as the phone was put down, Paul ran his hands through his hair. He turned to Alan and sighed. "Hey, Al?" He asked softly and Alan looked up at him with bright, vibrant eyes.  
"Yeah?" He asked happily. This only caused Paul to sigh and close his eyes.  
"Mum and Dad have... Gone away." He said and Alan blinked, smile disappearing.  
"Away? Away where?" He asked, head tilted.  
"Just... Away." Alan blinked but nodded.  
"When will they be back?" He asked and Paul looked down, swallowing a lump in his throat. "They, er... They won't be." He said and then began to cry. Alan hugged him as tightly as he could, offering a smile to him. In turn, Paul smiled weakly back at him. "It looks like you'll be staying with me, then." He said and then sighed. "Go to bed, Al. It's late. I need to make some calls." Alan nodded and did as he said.

Alan was sleeping soundly when he heard a shout from below. He jumped out of bed, fear edging in to his consciousness. "Paul?" He asked quietly, when he heard another bang from below. He crept downstairs and stared through the banister at the scene before him. Paul was wrestling with two men, and doing rather well. There were another two searching for something and two others, who looked like the bosses, just outside the door. Paul had just thrown one of them through a table when he turned to Alan. "Alan!" He yelled. "RUN!" Alan did as he said, just as Paul disappeared under his two attackers. As he began to run, the men who were looking for something ceased their search and began to run after him. One of them grabbed him but Alan sunk his teeth into his hand and the man let go quickly, Alan continuing to run. The man turned back and went to help his friends who were fighting Paul. Alan, still running, saw something in the background, something like a green flash. This brought back a memory. It brought back the memory of that night in Ottery St. Catchpole, where both his parents had died and, all at once, he knew what had happened. Paul was dead. Vera and Jack were dead. His parents were dead. With this information in mind, he continued running.

Alan ran for hours, only stopping when he ran out of breath. Before long, he had no idea where he was. He looked about the darkened land, fear begining to rise in his small body. "Hello?" He called softly. No answer. He gulped and saw a bridge. He realised that he was freezing and tired. He crawled under the bridge and tried to sleep. He was still cold but at least he could sleep. His legs ached from all the running and his mind raced with the knowledge of his loved ones' fates. Alan knew without having to think that the men would be back. He knew because he had caught a glimpse of one of the men. One of the men that he had seen all those years ago in Ottery St. Catchpole. The scarred, wretched, grinning face of Adam Salantio.

To understand the danger of this man, Adam Salantio, we have to take the story back to the point where George and Jane Shuzbeke were still at Hogwarts themselves. George hadn't even met Jane (Who was then Jane Greenfield). George's best friend was in fact Adam Salantio. They were both in Gryffindor and extremely proud of it. George proved himself to be as friendly as he was brave, befriending a Slytherin boy named Peter Terrington, who was small and an easy target for bullies. Adam was never very happy about this friendship, at least at first. At first, George himelf did in fact resent the boy because of his house but soon came to realise that the house didn't reflect the person. Peter was a very flawed boy, quiet and submissive but George helped him along. The best place to describe the forming of the corrupted mind of Adam Salantio would be at the meeting of the three boys.

George walked from the hall, Adam beside him. "You see that girl over there? She looked pretty nice." George said to his friend, who laughed.  
"I really wouldn't try, Georgie. She's way out of your league." He said and George nodded solemnly.  
"I guess you're right." He said quietly.  
"I always am, Georgie." He said proudly and laughed again. They rounded a corner and saw a large Slytherin boy towering over a smaller Slytherin.  
"You bumped into me!" The larger one growled. The smaller Slytherin cowered, eyes full of fear.  
"Oi, Avery! Leave the poor kid alone!" George told him. Avery turned.  
"Oh, go back to your mummy for some more money." Avery retorted.  
"Oh, grow up." Adam mumbled.  
"Like you can talk, Salantio! Everyone knows you're in love wi-" Avery began but was cut off.  
"Shut up!" Adam shouted. Avery smirked maliciously.  
"That struck a nerve, did it?" He asked. "Now. Let me finish with this one and we can all go about our business."/  
"Sounds good to m-" Adam started, only to be interrupted by George.

"Why should we?" He asked.  
"Because he's in _my _house." Avery told him, growling slightly.  
"So you can automatically pick on him? It doesn't work like that." George said indignantly. Adam tried to pull him away but George pushed him off.  
"You deal with your house, I'll deal with mine." Avery hissed. George stepped forward and Adam tried to pull him back.  
"George! Don't bother! It's not our problem! Let's just go and forget this." Adam almost begged him.  
"No, Adam! It's not right. Look at the poor kid! He's terrified." George protested and Adam sighed. "Just let him go." George said to Avery.  
"Why should I?" Avery asked and advanced towards him. George, seeing the danger, whipped out his wand. /  
"Rictumsempra!" He yelled. Avery fell about giggling, the tickling jinx having taken effect. George waved the kid over "Come here, kid." He said and the small boy wandered over to them, his eyes never leaving the writhing Avery. "What's your name?" George asked the boy, whose eyes were full of fear.  
"My name's Peter. Peter Terrington."/

It turned out that, despite his size, Peter was in the same year as George and Adam. It was a few days after the incident which had ended in the meeting of the three boys. They were wandering down near the lake when Peter suddenly smiled. George and Adam were actually surprised. In the few days they had known him, he had never smiled. Adam and George shared a look and shared a small smile. George sat down and looked across the grassland. "Look. There's that girl!" He exclaimed. Adam looked over and grinned.  
"Go on, then. Me and Peter'll watch you crash and burn." He said, shooting a grin over at Peter, who smiled shyly back. George raised his eyebrows.  
"Fine. I will." He said and walked over to her. Adam looked at Peter.  
"How long do you reckon it'll take for him to become obsessed?" He asked, grinning.  
"Oh... I don't know. How long d'you think?" He asked, smiling gently.  
"Five minutes... At most." He said and watched George go over to the girl.

"Hey..." George said, approaching the girl. She looked at him, blinking.  
"Erm... Hi." She said, looking at her friends, who were giggling. George blushed a little and caught sight of Adam laughing. He sighed and turned back to her. The girls behind her were giggling away and the girl smiled at him. "Sorry, they're just... Well, they're just giggly." She apologised and smiled. He nodded, smiling.  
"As are my friends." He said and pointed at Adam and Peter, who were both laughing at him.  
"I see." She said and smiled at him "Why are they laughing at you?" She asked.  
"They think you're way out of my league." He said and blushed, looking down.  
"Do you think I'm 'Way out of your league'?" She asked and George looked up, blinking.  
"Well, I'm not sure." He said, trying to keep composed.  
"Well... I don't, personally." She said and he blinked, eyes wide.  
"Wh-What?" He spluttered. She laughed quietly.  
"I said I don't think I'm out of your league." She said and smiled.  
"So... What does that mean? You'll go out with me?" He asked and she smiled.  
"I'll think about it." She said and looked at his tie. "Gryffindor too, huh? Meet me in the Common Room tonight at six." She looked over at his friends "Make sure they're not there." George felt himself grin. She turned back towards him. "What's your name, by the way?"/  
"George. George Shuzbeke." He replied and asked her "What's yours?"/  
"Jane. Jane Greenfield." She said and turned back towards her friends, George heading back to Adam and Peter.

"So. How did it go? She slap you?" Adam asked, eyes twinkling with mischief.  
"No." He said. He barely contained a smile at Peter's confused face.  
"So what happened?" Peter asked in his small voice.  
"She wants to talk to me at six in the Common Room" He said and, as Adam looked ready to say something, told him "Make sure you're nowhere to be seen." Adam sighed.  
"What? Why?" Adam whined, inspiring a laugh from Peter.  
"Because she wants to see me alone." George said and Adam raised his eyebrows.  
"Alone? Ooh..." He whistled, winking at him. George rolled his eyes.  
"Oh, leave it out will you?" He mumbled. Adam just laughed.  
"Fine. I'll just go to the dorm." He said and smiled. "We have a few hours yet... Where to?" Adam asked and George shrugged.  
"I don't mind." George said and looked at Peter. "You want to go anywhere, Pete?"  
"Oh, erm... I don't mind either." He said quietly. George sighed.  
"Let's just go to the hall." He said and began to walk towards the castle, the other two close behind.

A few hours later, just before six, Peter had returned to his Common Room, as had George and Adam. Adam, true to his word, had disappeared to the Dormitory, leaving George sat in the common room by himself. He sighed and kicked his feet up on to the table. He basically lay on the couch for ten minutes, by which time George was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to appear. He was losing hope when he heard the portrait swing open. George turned, kicking his feet off the table. Jane walked over to him, smiling. "Well, hi there." She said quietly.  
"H-Hi." George said, butterflies in his stomach. Jane laughed quietly.  
"No need to sound so nervous." She said and George nodded slightly.  
"Alright." He said quietly.  
"Where's your friends?" She asked him, looking abou the place.  
"One of them's in Slytherin so he'll be in their Common Room." He said and Jane raised an eyebrow.  
"A Slytherin? You are something different." She said, smiling.  
"The kid needed help. I don't care what house he's in." He said modestly, shrugging his shoulders.  
"A Gryffindor through and through..." Jane said, smiling slightly.  
"I like to think so." He muttered. They said nothing for a while, instead leaning gradually closer until their lips touched. They kissed, thinking they were alone. They weren't. If they had only looked up at the balcony overlooking them, they would have seen the scowling face of Adam Salantio.

You may be thinking that the story I have just told you does not attest to the fact that Adam Salantio is evil. Indeed, at this point he isn't. This will not be the last time we flash back to this time in Hogwarts, as this will only build upon why everything happened to Alan that did. So yes, we will keep coming back to this era. You could in fact say that this is story split between to eras and, to understand one, you must understand the other. The fact that friends like Adam and George could turn against each other may seem unrealistic but things happen that change people. We will expand upon this later, though. Only then can you understand the true reasons for all the events you will see unfold.

Back to Alan, I think. So, when we left him, he was cowering under a bridge. Things didn't get any better for him in the next few weeks. He barely survived. He ate what little he could and he lost almost all of his weight. His usually animated black hair drooped down to cover his face, as malnourished as he was. His eyes lost their twinkle and he lost his smile. On the fourth day of his life on the streets, he was exhausted and wandering. He couldn't stop, he had heard footsteps behind him. He was only walking but the exhaustion and the dark prevented him from seeing the steep hill in front of him. His foot caught on a branch and he stumbled and fell. He yelped as he fell, rolling roughly down the hill. His clothes and flesh caught on sticks and branches on the way down. When he finally got to the bottom of the hill, barely stopping rolling before a car, blaring its horn, drove past at breakneck speed. Keep in mind that at this point Alan was four years old. All that he had were the clothes on his back and they were ripped and bloody. Alan wept on the side of the road, bleeding from multiple cuts on his small, fragile body. Alan closed his eyes and winced. He felt his eyelid and felt fresh blood pouring out. He felt his eyebrow, where the blood was also coming from. As far as he could tell, Alan had a continuous cut running from just above his left eyebrow to just below the left eye. It hurt badly. Every tear Alan cried from that eye stung and was stained with blood. He could still see from that eye, which was a miracle. Alan settled down for the night, trying to ignore the pain from the parts of his body where it hurt most.

Two months passed. As the bruises and cuts healed from the fall, some remained. Most of them did disappear but he ended up with a scar running from just above his left eyebrow to just below the left eye. It stung occasionally and Alan could tell it would be a permanent one. He also had a dozen small scars on his ribs and torso. They stung quite a bit but Alan was just happy he hadn't broken any bones. He sat underneath a tree in a park. It was summer and it was very sunny but Alan felt oddly cautious. His eyes caught on a group of people, who looked about eighteen. They were talking animatedly and Alan felt eyes on him. Being naive and unlearned in the art of subtlety, he looked around at the source and saw someone who was definitely looking at him. It wasn't Terrington or Salantio, Alan knew that. He got up and began to walk quickly from the park. The man got up and began to, as well. Alan began to run and didn't stop until, once again, he was lost. He groaned and began to wander an alleyway.

He stayed in that general area for another month, eating what little he could. He stayed there until events forced him to move on. During this time, Alan turned from four years old to five. His birthday passed without either significance or celebration. In fact, he only realised it had passed when he looked at a newspaper he saw in a bin. This was rather a shock to the young boy, who had always celebrated his birthday. Jack and Vera had always thrown him a birthday party. George and Jane had never had the oppurtunity. They had died before even his first birthday. Alan did not in fact know it, but he was very near to where his parents' graves lay. He didn't know what his parents were called and he wouldn't for another six years.

Ottery St. Catchpole held, as you might imagine, a familiar feel to Alan. He wandered the streets looking about the place, taking in the various houses and people. He smiled at a couple who looked at him pitiously when they saw the state of his clothes. They beckoned him over and asked him why his clothes were in such a state. Alan realised that they find it suspicious if he told them what had really happened and he shrugged. "I fell down a hill." He said, an element of truth to his words. The woman of the couple nodded and disappeared for a while. Alan was about to move on when the couple returned, a bag in their hands. The woman handed him the bag, stating that there were clothes inside. Then the man took out his wallet and handed him a twenty pound-note. Alan looked on the note adoringly. The man told him to use it to get something to eat, obviously having taken in his dishevelled appearance. Alan smiled genuinely at the couple and ran to the nearest cafe.

I'd love to be able to tell you that Alan got to the cafe and he had a good meal and he found someone who wanted to take care of him. Really, I'd love to. I can't though. Alan never made it to the cafe. By the time this event happened, the streets were darkening but Alan smiled his way around. His smile disappeared when he saw a man step in front of him. It wasn't a Raider. It was just a random man. When Alan looked at his face, he recognised him from when the man was giving him the money. He had seen him looking at him and the note. "You're a bit young to be wandering at this hour, aren't you?" The man asked, voice rough. Alan opened his mouth to answer but didn't get the time. A pair of arms were wrapped around him from behind and a hand was thrust onto his mouth, knocking a took loose. Alan screamed a muffled scream, in both immense pain and terror. Alan was thrown to the floor. Luckily, he hadn't gotten changed so only his already ruined clothes were damaged. He scraped along the ground, coming to a stop against a wall. The men advanced on him and Alan covered his head with his arms. He felt blows rain down upon him, causing pain in all areas. Alan didn't know when the blows stopped. All he knew was that they did. He thought for one fleeting second that the men had gone. He removed his arms and opened his eyes cautiously. The men were still there. They were smiling. "We need this for drinks." One of them said and then, before Alan could react, a foot was launched at his face. Everything went blank.


End file.
